Dumping-car



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. McMAHON.

v DUMPING GAR.

No. 530,199. Patented Dec. 4, 1894.

' llllllllllllllllll'll (No Model.) 3 Sheets -Sheet 2.

W. MGMAHON.

DUMPIITG OAR.

No. 530,'199.- Patented Dec. 4, 1894..

mi ziswes Irwezzfor (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3..

W. MOMAHON.

DUMPING GAR. No. 530,199. Patented Dec. 4, 1894.

figiv.

ilNiT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM MCMAHON, OF RAHWAY, NEW JERSEY.

DUMPlNG-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,199, dated December 4, 1894. Application filed June II 1893' Serial No. 476,220. (No model.)

. To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that 1, WILLIAM MCM'AHON, a citizen of the United States, residing in Rahway, county of Union, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dumping-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates generally to railway cars adapted to carry merchandise in bulk, and having means for easily removing the contents by the opening of one or more sections of the floor or bottom of the car, and it consists specifically in the presentinstanceof two sections or leaves of the flooring which constitute gates or doors, and which are hinged to the flooring as will be. explained, and which are adapted, by means of an easily operable lever and the connecting mechanism, to be thrown down, and subsequently as easily closed and locked in said closed position.

' I illustrate my invention in connection with what is known as a hopper gondola car, and I have hinged the gates or doors to the inner terminals of the hopper or inclines, so that the meeting and separating edges of the gates will be centrally located as regards the car body, and when the gates open, they will move downwardly and outwardly toward the respective ends of the car body.

In my present invention I have devised a method of sustaining and supporting the gates in their horizontal closed position, a method of thrusting said gates downward to their open position and in such a manner that they will move simultaneously and through the same space, and I have provided a lever pivotally affixed upon the exterior of the car body, and in connection therewith I arrange a pitman provided with toggle links. These links are two in number, and are connected each to one of the gates or doors. The pitman arm extends between and connects the lever and the toggle links and is provided with an inset opening which, when the doors are in their closed position, fitsv around and rests upon the rock-shaft of the operating lever,

. thereby removing the weight of the gatesoft of the lever-and transferring it directly to the rock-shaft, as will be explained. v

Referring to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, Figposition.

ure I represents a portion of a gondola hopper car to which my present invention has been applied. In this drawing the gates or doors are shown in the closed and locked position. Fig. II is a detail view- In this view the guide is shown which I employ to equalize and balance the movements of the gates. Fig. III is a side view of a portion of the car body showing the gates or doors in their open Fig. IV is a cross section of the same parts in the same position. Fig.V is a side elevation of a complete car showing the gates or doors and the operating mechanism in their closed or normal position and in doted lines the same parts in their open position, or in a position of dumping.

In the drawings A represents the car body of a hopper gondola coal car and B B the trucks. Centrally located as regards the car body are doors or gates O D hinged as shown at the inner terminals or inclines E F of the Approximately near the outer fixed hopper. ends of the gates or doorsIconnect,pivotally, two links G H which are free to move with said doors and which serve to force them up or down and to retain them in either of their extreme positions. These links are in turn swiveled to the pitman arm J at its lower end, the said links and pitman being united by a bolt K as shown in Fig. IV. The inner end of the bolt K is arrangedto travel in a guide or way L fixed to the exterior of the car body.

Extending centrally through the car body and preferably in the same vertical plane as the meeting edges of the gates or doors when in a closed position Iarrange a rock-shaft M. This shaft is the main operating and supporting shaft of my mechanism and reaches through the car body upon both sides of the car and terminates at each end in a head,

preferably square, and which is adapted to receive the removable handle 0 by means of which when in position the trainman is enabled to operate the dumping mechanism.

Mounted upon the ends of the rock-shaft M, are connecting levers B. These levers are fixedly secured to the rock-shaft and are swiveled to the upper ends of the pitman arms J, so that when the rock-shaft turns the connecting levers R will move in unison therewith, and the outer ends of the connecting levers will describe the arc of a circle, and

will cause the pitman-arms to move up or down'in unison therewith.

I will now proceed to describe the special construction of the pitman arms J, which are swiveled, as above stated, at their upper ends to the connecting levers R and at their lower ends to the toggle links G 1-1. These pitman arms are provided with an inset opening or cavity S, said opening or cavity corresponding in depth to the diameter or width of the rock-shaft, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, so that when the locking mechanism has assumed the locked or closed position as shown inFig. 1, the said inset opening S of the pitman arm J will fit over and around the rock-shaft and rest thereon. By this means I am enabled to secure a result not heretofore attained, to wit: a pitman arm operating toggle links, whose connecting point or bolt moves in a strictly vertical line, thereby equalizing and balanc-1 ing the said toggle links and the gates or doors to which they are connected and at the same time secure an additional'r '"st or support for the said doors or gates through the medium of the links and pitman arm, directly upon the operating or rock-shaft thus eliminating, as apart of the supporting structure, the crank and its connecting joint, and thus transferring the weight of the superimposed load more directly than in any prior construction upon a fixed joint of a car body.

When the operating parts are in the position shown in Fig. I, and the doors or gates C and D are closed, the links G and H, which support said gates, will pull directly upon the pitman arm J, and they in turn through the medium of the shoulder T of the pitman arm, will transfer the entire weight directly upon the top of the rock-shaft, thus relieving the connecting joint or point U, between the crank lever B and the pitman arm J, of all strain. It will be seen also that when the pitman arm J is in the closed position shown in Fig. I it is perfectly vertical and that also when it is holding the doors or gates in an open position as shown in Fig. III, it has again assumed a vertical position.

I provide a stop V as shown in Fig. III to prevent the crank lever B from going beyond its extreme open position.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a dumping car, the combination of the horizontal gates hinged at the terminals of the fixed hopper and having their meeting jand separating edges located centrally as regards the car body, a crank lever fixed to a rock shaft hung in the car body, the hereinbefore described rock shaft extending transversely of the car body, rigid connections jointed to the swinging end of the aforesaid lever and extending to the gates near the meeting ends, and means substantially as shown and described for transferring the weight of the gates and their superimposed load from the aforesaid connecting joint directly to the rock shaft when the said gates arein their closed position.

2. In a dumping car, the combination of the pivoted gates or bottom, a crank lever pivotally hung in the car body, with a pitman arm swiveled to the lever and connected to the gates, the said pitman arm having an inset shoulder which rests upon the pivot of the lever when the gates are in a closed position and which forms a support for the gates, as set forth.

3. In a dumping car, the combination of the pivoted gates or bottom, a crank lever pivotally hung from the body of the car, a pitman swiveled to the lever, connections from said pitman to the swinging gates, the said pitman having an inset which registers with the pivot of the lever when the gates are closed, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a dumping car, the combination of the pivoted gates or' bottom, crank levers mounted on a shaft hung in the car body, with said shaft, toggle levers extending to the gates and jointed t0 the swinging end of the lever, and means substantially as shown and described for removing the weight of the gates from the aforesaid joint and transferring it directly to the shaft of the crank lever when said crank lever has reached or has proceeded slightly beyond its dead center.

5. In a dumping car, the combination of the hinged gates C, D, toggle links G, H, pitman arm J having an inset S, connecting bolt K, guide L, crank lever R, having joint U, rock shaft M and operating handle 0, all arranged and adapted to operate, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

W'ILTJIAM MOMAII ON.

Witnesses:

L. WOOLSEY, M. V. 1311x1001); 

